Chapter 1020: Burning Army Spirit
Back at home, the Grizzlies were in high spirits, and Gasol Jr. jumped the ball to win against Chamberlain, who reacted a block slower, and the ball was picked by Gasol Jr. to Conley.
This time Hollins changed the lineup, Tony Allen was replaced, and Mayo was put directly into the starting lineup, apparently to enhance the Grizzlies' attack.
At the beginning of the game, Hollins folded his arms in front of his chest and frowned at the two sides on the court, and his heart was also up and down.
The reason why Mayo was put in the starting lineup is because after two games, the Warriors' offensive firepower seems to be just average, and in the past two games, the Warriors only took the initiative later, so he boldly changed his tactics, and the Grizzlies started to attack!
Yes, Hollins is bold and he's going to open the game to suppress the defending champions.
After the opening, the Grizzlies worked hard up and down, Conley passed the ball to Mayo, Randolph ran out to cover, and Mayo immediately broke through, like a bull, galloping all the way to the inside.
West was blocked, and Mayo seized the opportunity to find the gap, got inside and rose to the ground, shooting the ball with a solid throw.
Chamberlain, who had been blocked by little Gasol before, saw Mayo jump, his eyes suddenly changed, he struggled to wave his arm to push the immobile little Gasol away, and followed Mayo in a step, and then flew up, Mayo's heart sank, and the ball was like an angel with broken wings, and he was directly slapped down!
Ibaka grabbed the ball and threw it to West, and the Grizzlies immediately stepped back like a tide, and the speed of defense was surprising.
After seeing the Grizzlies' offensive and defensive switch, Kenny Smith was puzzled in TNT's live broadcast room and said, "Look, Memphis has now been reborn!" The Spurs didn't lose at all, and now I wonder if this team shouldn't just be seventh, they could have done better in the regular season. ”
The Warriors' fast break was stifled, West's stubborn shot turned into iron, Guy flew up to pick up the rebound, and the Warriors could only retreat stupidly.
Although the Grizzlies have stepped up their offensive firepower, the defensive intensity of this game is the strongest since the start of the playoffs.
Both teams are not bad at firepower, but no one can score in two consecutive rounds!
Chamberlain licked his lips and a sneer appeared on his face, he clapped his palms and shouted, "Give me the ball!" Hunt the grizzly bear, then head back to Oakland and wait for the Dallasians! ”
Now that the Mavericks have beaten the Lakers 3-0, they could be the first team to qualify for the semifinals.
When the Warriors were attacking, Chamberlain jammed Gasol Jr. to grab the ball, and Gasol Jr. naturally couldn't let him have a chance to get the ball, so he dragged Chamberlain hard and fought with him for the card position.
As a result, Gasol Jr. rushed forward, Chamberlain turned around and quickly rushed to the basket, West, who had been paying attention to the confrontation between the two, shook his arm, and the basketball flew to the hoop with a whistling whistle.
Gasol Jr. was shocked and hurriedly turned around to defend, but when he turned around, what he saw was Chamberlain rising into the sky like a rocket, raising his arms to catch the ball was an aerial relay.
"Some people watch Z's game, and they always feel that when the ball is in his hands, the game is very simple, in fact, it is not the game that is simple, but Z's opponent is simple, this is the power of superstars, they are nuclear warheads, they can destroy a qiē lightly!" Barkley exclaimed.
After the aerial relay, Chamberlain picked up the rebound derived from Gay's missed jump shot, and the Warriors quickly responded with Chamberlain walking to the middle to get the ball, and successively changed direction past Gasol Jr. and Randolph, and deftly rushed to the basket and made a layup.
Conley waved vigorously to steady his pace, and then he passed the ball to Guy, who responded with a three-point shot that jumped up and scored his first three-pointer of the game.
Chamberlain was unstoppable after he came along, covering Carter in the high post, only to get the ball and shoot a jumper over Guy's head, who jumped up as hard as he could, without even touching a single hair, and watched the ball fly over his head and into the hoop.
Chamberlain scored the first six points of the Warriors, and the Grizzlies continued to rely on breakthroughs to impact their defenses, and finally Randolph caused Ibaka to foul and play a 2+1, but then they were greeted by Carter and West's impact under Chamberlain's cover.
The Warriors started the game on a 14-6 run, with Nowitzki scoring 10 points alone.
Hollins took an emergency timeout, and the Grizzlies got off to a poor start, but they were resilient, and after their return, the youth team boldly launched a three-point shootout, and with Conley and Mayo hitting three-pointers in quick succession, the Grizzlies trailed by just one point at 13-14 at the halfway point of the first quarter.
One of the characteristics of the youth army is that once it plays with momentum, it immediately becomes majestic and unstoppable, and now it is like this, with the momentum of two three-pointers, the Grizzlies continue to hit the basket, Guy has 20 seconds left in this quarter to relay a dunk, Randolph broke through at the last moment and shot the whistle, incredible, the Grizzlies ended the first quarter 27-20.
The Warriors played very poorly in the second half of the first quarter, and Kenny Smith exclaimed: "This is the magical playoffs, look, the Warriors' tactics are fine, the players' strength is fine, but it seems like the hoop is locked, they can't shoot it no matter how they want to shoot -- including Z's hook, that's a solid job, man, but the ball still pops up." ”
From trailing by 8 points to leading by 7 points, the Grizzlies are chasing 15 points in a row, and fans inevitably get excited, with some people shouting: "We have magicians, our hoops are magical, evil Warriors, get out of Memphis, or you will die!" ”
In the second quarter, Nelson Sr. habitually replaced the twin star lineup of West and Curry, and the two controlled the perimeter.
At the beginning of the game, Curry took the ball and passed Chamberlain outside the three-point line, and since Chamberlain scored 10 points in a row at the beginning, the Grizzlies have launched a miserable two-three-person or even four-man package against him!
This time was no exception, Gasol Jr. and Randolph rushed forward immediately, and after that, Guy was ready to move.
Chamberlain made a strong attack, forcing the Grizzlies defense to shrink inside, and then distributed the ball to West, who got the ball like a missile, swooped into the Grizzlies' interior line, forcing the Grizzlies defense to shrink further.
After that, instead of passing the ball to Chamberlain and not shooting it himself, West came back with a rifle and threw the ball to Curry.
At this time, there is not much time to attack, Curry has been running and cruising outside the three-point line, and after receiving West's pass, he smiled and rose up, and as soon as he got on the court, it was a fatal three-pointer!
The Grizzlies' pre-game arrangement was to play momentum at the beginning, and they wanted to use the young army's fearless appearance to suppress the Warriors, and they did a very good job in the first quarter, and they had already suppressed the Warriors, so they were still in a hurry in the second quarter and wanted to completely suppress the Warriors.
In this way, their attack was a little impatient, and Conley made a mistake in passing, and the ball flew straight off the pitch.
The Warriors immediately took advantage of the situation to counterattack, Chamberlain sat in the high post and gave the ball to Curry, Conley went up to entangle, Curry passed the ball back again, Chamberlain got the ball and roared, the basket hit back and then swept, knocked away Gasol Jr., swept away Randolph, turned around and dunked!
"Steady, steady!" West shouted, "Chase it back point by point!" ”
On the other side, the attacking Grizzlies let out a similar roar, and Randolph arranged: "Cover each other, don't be too rushed, don't make any more mistakes!" This is our last chance, and today is our last chance! ”
Hearing Randolph's words, Chamberlain's heart was shocked, what is the matter with this dead fat man? How did he suddenly change his ways? The current Randolph does not look like a Trail Blazer hooligan or a New York gangster, but rather a full-fledged political commissar of the PLA and a fixture for the Grizzlies.
Although Barkley didn't hear what Randolph said, he could see that he was arranging it on the field, so he said: "We don't know what happened to Randolph after he came to Memphis, but he has transformed, how to put it, the Grizzlies of the Youth Army are like a wildfire, they can start a prairie fire once they go crazy." And Randolph is the wind that controls this wildfire, without him, this fire will burn the opponent and themselves, it is he who controls this fire! ”
Randolph's command was effective, and with five minutes left in the quarter, the Grizzlies still led by six points at 45-39.
Nelson Sr. called a timeout and quickly made a new lineup, bringing Evans on the court and letting him go specifically against Randolph, while Chamberlain switched to power forward to free up his strength on the defensive end.
After the game, the Warriors' offensive rhythm increased sharply, West and Curry responded to each other's attacks from the wings, scored directly to the basket, and fifteen seconds later, Curry hit another three-point shot, Chamberlain blocked Gasol Jr.'s hook, and on the offensive end, he caused Gasol Jr.'s foul and hit a layup, directly hitting a 2+1.
With such a wave of offense, the Warriors immediately overtook the score, the atmosphere in the arena changed, and Grizzlies fans became nervous.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, Randolph made another meritorious service, and he broke through the throw to counterattack a 2+1 to stabilize the Grizzlies' decline.
Grizzlies fans breathed a sigh of relief, and just when they thought the situation was going to get better, the Warriors used the last minute and a half to launch another wave of terrorist attacks!
West ran wildly with the ball, Evans covered, and Chamberlain ran to the bottom of the three-point line, then slipped to the bottom of the line and rushed to the basket to get the ball to dunk reflexively.
Conley passed the ball to Tony Allen, who turned around and was pushed by West to steal the ball, so Mad Dog began to rush with the ball and hit a fast break to counterattack and make a layup.
The Grizzlies shot the iron, Chamberlain picked up the rebound and passed out, and then he followed from behind, rushing all the way to the frontcourt, West passed the ball to him, he got the ball and made a pull-up jumper, and the two points were scored again!
At this moment, the Grizzlies were completely messed up, and 4 seconds before the end of the game, Curry scored a jump shot with the help of Chamberlain, and it was another two points!
In this way, the Warriors ended the quarter with a wave of imposing 16-3 supersurges, which went over 55-48 in one fell swoop.
The Grizzlies didn't score a point in the last two and a half points, and there was nothing they could do about watching the Warriors score one after another!
At halftime, Chamberlain was still the Warriors' offensive and defensive arrow, scoring 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, in addition to 11 rebounds. West scored 11 points and six assists, showing his strength as an All-Star point guard.